Monthly Archives: June 2009

After reviewing a “never enforced” policy, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) has banned member stations from carrying new religious TV programs; the few existing ones can continue, it was announced this week…

It’s not often we can point at somebody’s faults and not feel guilty about doing so. Such is the case when talking about former Laker Mark Madsen’s victory parade moment when he not only gave validation to the claim that “white men can’t dance,” but gave a shout out to the Hispanic community in screaching style.

Yesterday, as the Lakers and Los Angeles celebrated the franchise’s 15th NBA Championship, EVERYONE was waiting for that “Mark Madsen moment.” As near as I can tell, it never came. The moment is preserved in historic nerd perspective and the loveable Madsen lives to write about it…as he did in today’s guest column in the LA Times.

Just as awkward as his parade moment…but good and funny!

Madsen writes…

I started getting nervous because that wasn’t what I’d planned for. But Shaq’s so funny. He was always coming up with stuff, sayings, like, “L.A. is the new capital of California, not Sacramento.” It was awesome.

As for my speech, I just wanted it to go quickly. Then all of a sudden, I hear Shaq off to the side saying: “Who let the dogs out?” Shaq is smart and funny and if he said it, I knew it would go over well.

And there was support from the Latino community and we wanted to acknowledge that. I saw our broadcasters and thought, “Hey, I know how to say a few things in Spanish. So why not?”

The more depressed the real estate market gets, the more the “promoters” come out from under the woodwork…out from under their rocks…or wherever they have been hiding.
They come out to pitch their expensive (and unrealistic) plans and programs about how to get rich in real estate through foreclosures.GUEST BLOGGER POST

Right now, the residential real estate market is softening, which sadly means that more families are losing their homes due to foreclosure.

In a strong real estate market and in a strong economy there may only be a couple of foreclosures in a neighborhood at any given time. Right now, when the real estate market is sorting itself out from the sub-prime debacle, foreclosures abound.

A lot of people have the idea that one man’s loss is another man’s gain. But when it comes to foreclosures, one man’s loss may be the next man’s loss, too.

Why buy foreclosed properties? When you buy a house that’s been foreclosed upon, you’re buying a house that didn’t sell. The owner of the house couldn’t sell it and the bank couldn’t sell it. They’re just hoping that a sucker — I mean an “investor” — like you will come along, ready to take that white elephant off their hands.

Let’s first consider the question: “What is a foreclosure?” Very simply, it’s when an individual who owns a house, has taken out a mortgage and can no longer make the payments. They couldn’t sell the house for a price that would allow them to pay off the mortgage so the bank stepped in to recoup as much as it could of what turned out to be a very bad investment all around. If you buy it, you own it, and need to pay the mortgage on an empty house that likely hasn’t been maintained.

How long can you afford to do that?

More often than not, investments in foreclosed property turn out not to be like winning a lottery, but a path to bankruptcy! You might be willing to offer more than the other speculators, but what does that tell you? It means that all the other real estate investors in your neck of the woods were not willing to put down as much money on that property as you…in your infinite wisdom!

It’s too bad they already made a TV show called “The Biggest Loser,” because that’s how I would describe anybody unfortunate enough to offer the most money, out of all the speculators, to the owner of a foreclosure property.

Once again, you’ve got to ask yourself whether you’re smarter than all the other investors looking at foreclosures, and all the home buyers who passed up the opportunity to buy the house from a realtor or directly from the owner, and the bank or government entity currently in possession of the house.

If this sounds harsh, I’d rather you learn from me that foreclosures don’t work than learning the hard way. I don’t want you to learn the hard and painful way, by going through the time, trouble, and expense of a property that costs you more in money and heartache than you could ever make… even if things really worked the way the foreclosure hucksters would like you to believe.

I can offer you the stories of countless people with sad experiences who thought they could make money in real estate through foreclosures. By and large, they didn’t. But a new generation of hopeful investors arises every day, and the people with those full-page ads for seminars on how to make money in these fields continue to prey on them.

Can you still make a fortune in real estate?

You bet! Do it the right way, and you’ll be very satisfied with your results. It’s a turnkey approach that is disciplined but very effective.

It is truly the #1 way to invest in the # 1 investment in America — which truly is real estate!

CNN Breaking News on Twitter, @cnnbrk, tweeted this morning at 6:38 Pacific that “Iran bans foreign media from covering rallies on streets of Tehran following last week’s disputed presidential vote.”

There’s much buzz over the fact that real news about the post-election reaction in Iran is being covered best by those on Twitter messaging in and out of Iran. The site’s “Trending Topics” sidebar has featured #iranelection at the top spot for more than 2 days.

Links to real time photos and videos, as well as active inside Iran Twitter member usernames are posted regularly.

Many members (Tweeps) have changed their user photos (avatars) to green, and/or included images from Iran, such as green paint dipped fingers making the peace sign. Green is traditionally considered a symbolic color of Islam, but has also come to represent the movement against Iran’s election results.

The action of banning the foreign media from covering the rallies may do little in preventing news from Tweeting out of Iran.

Yes, this is a Top 10 list, but to find the number one thing not to do after a Lakers championship win you’ll have to visit today’s Offbeat column at LA Church and State Examiner. Thanks for the additional click! Don’t worry, there are no strings attached…it’s just a way of support!

Highlights from Andrew Breitbart’s ‘No more apologies from Sotomayor’ opinion piece
Andrew Brietbart’s opinion column published in the Washington Times, Monday, June 1st will be the most talked about, e-mailed about, blogged about, tweeted about post of the new millennium…or at least this week!

Here’s some highlights…if you will…
The lead

With Barack Obama, many Americans had hoped to get a post-racial president. With Mr. Obama’s pick of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace David H. Souter on the Supreme Court, it looks less and less like they got one.

Just plain silly

As for the outrage du jour, the call for Sotomayor to apologize for making a racist comment in a 2001 speech is silly. She said what she meant, and she meant what she said: “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

Now class…now CLASS!

In today’s left-of-center culture, the “white male” – “the victim,” as it were – understands that what Judge Sotomayor said is the accepted liberal way of thinking. Identity politics (also known as political correctness, multiculturalism and cultural Marxism) is the foundation of the political left. It is the first, middle and last lesson taught today in Academia. It is the mainstream media’s rulebook.

Double standard

It is why Sotomayor and Obama are praiseworthy, and why Clarence Thomas, Condoleezza Rice, Alberto Gonzalez and Miguel Estrada are unacceptable members of their respective tribes.

Here come the judge!

Judge Sotomayor made the offending comment – yet now she is the victim. It’s amazing how effective political correctness can be.